<p>Hello,
so i've been reading the cc posts, and i've come across several that have mentioned that the Ivy Leagues and colleges in general hold a clear distinction between Africans and African Americans. I was born in West Africa, and lived there till the 10th grade, then moved to the us, where i am currently a senior (applied rd to yale). I would like to know how 'differently' colleges regard africans in the application pool. And, if being African will likely help or hurt my application.</p>
<p>thanks.
naijagrl (u can figure out what country i'm from, from my username:))</p>
<p>I think colleges that use the URM, ORM labels would be more than happy to have someone with good stats and an unusual (being born in Nigeria and moving to the US is unusual) background (or at least an under represented one).</p>
<p>It's interesting you bring up the distinction between "African American" and "African".</p>
<p>To me, YOU are someone that can legitimately be called an African American, (because there is relevant information about your nationality/previous nationality is communicates).
I would call a black person born in the US an African American for the same reason I wouldn't call a white person born in the US a European American.</p>
<p>I didn't bring up the distinction, instead, i saw it vaguely discussed on other threads, so i just wanted to see if there was a difference.
thanks for replying though :)
and you're right, i am nigerian.
btw, what does ORM mean (over-represented?)</p>
<p>It shouldn't really hurt you. It's just that African students are overrepresented in colleges. At many schools, more than half of the amount of black students are African. There's a distinction and you're still technically considered a minority but you're an over-represented minority lol. if that makes sense. good luck!</p>
<p>Africans are not ORMs in Yale are they? Let me put this there. It should make sense.</p>
<pre><code> __LET US BE MATURE_
</code></pre>
<p>AFRICAN = Not a citizen of another country but Nigeria, Sierra-Leone, Liberia, South Africa etc. You would be am international, and applying from that country.</p>
<p>AFRICAN AMERICAN = citizen or legal resident here. You are covered by the law and priviledges here. Affirmitive Action and equal opportunity are a few. You get federal aid, and qualify for most scholarships. </p>
<p>If Africans qualified for many scholarships, then they would apply to many colleges. Since that is not possible, they apply to certain colleges.
Please correct me if I wrong.</p>
<p>The OP will be considered African American if she has U.S. citizenship despite the fact that she immigrated from Africa recently...but without the citizenship or legal residency, then she is indeed considered just African and an international.</p>
<p>Can you clarify your immigration status, naijagrl?</p>
<p>To bluewhitebulldog:
I'm still a citizen of nigeria (i can never lose that, since i was born there, and generations before me lived there). But, i am an american permanent resident. What's with the "mature" comment? i was confused and i asked a simple question, what's immature about that?, I was just wandering...</p>
<p>To riverrunner:
Before your post, I -and probably 95% of africans- had never heard of this "NextEinstein", thingie, and the school "African University of Science and Technology" NOBODY (i mean obviously some people know, but not as much as the name seems to say) has heard of it. It's a cool idea, just not as publicized as it should be.</p>
<p>Mature because when affirmitive action is mentioned, some people take offense. When equal opportunity is mentioned, some get furious or shy. It is a delicate issue and I wanted us to be mature about it.</p>
<p>Permanent residency changes the situation I guess. You can file FAFSA and are covered by some of the priviledges. In this case, you are living here and that means you could bring a different kind of diversity. </p>
<p>It would depend on the number of Nigerians who are Perm Res' and are applying to Yale.</p>
<p>It's not just a matter of being viewed as where you are a citizen or not. </p>
<p>I think that there is a big cultural difference between Africans that have immigrated to the US of their own will and the African-Americans who were brought here as slaves and torn down for generations after. The former group tends to be more successful when they come to the US and they and their American offspring often aren't nearly as affected by the issues that African-Americans who descended from slaves have to deal with. For the former group, a lot of the reasons why we have affirmative action in the first place don't really apply (equalization of opportunity that has been skewed by slavery and institutional discrimination), while it is a very real cultural-economic legacy with the blacks who have descended from slavery.</p>
<p>sorry for sounding accusing <bluewhitebulldog>, amd thanks guys for clarifying my questions. and <magitf>, could you clarify the last part of your statement?, But i totally agree with the first part, (hope i'm successful:))</magitf></bluewhitebulldog></p>
<p>Africans and first generation Americans from Africa are more overrepresented on Ivy League campuses then Asians. As a whole they are far higher achieving academically then african americans with multi-generational roots in the US, for various reasons. In fact, if Caribbean American was considered a subset on the SAT, they would be the highest performing group. </p>
<p>So Ivies compete much harder for african americans, with roots back to slavery and segregation, then for Africans and Caribbean Americans.</p>